//------------------------------// // Pt. 6 - Thunderstruck // Story: Touch the Sky // by Witching Hour //------------------------------// Monkey sighs and sets the letter aside on her bunk, huffing irritably as a lock of red mane falls into her eyes. “Hey Leaf,” she groans as she sets her head down on her arms. “We have to pick up Tricks on the way home… Witchy’s latest letter is postmarked from Half-Flank, Saddle Arabia… And now she apparently has to hunt for a crystal tree in the Everfree Forest…” Leaf looks up at the neighboring bunk, a quizzical expression on his face. “What… A crystal tree?!” “Yah… Apparently, it was that or go to Roan, which I’m told to have you explain why that’s a bad idea,” Monkey replies dryly. “It’s only the worst idea possible,” Leaf retorts, his usual humor absent. “I mean… Unless they want to never be seen or heard from again… And I’d really rather they stick around.” “Roan’s that city in Istally that everypony avoids like the Black Death, isn’t it?” Stormy asks, leaning over the edge of his bunk to look to Leaf below for confirmation. “Yep!” Leaf responds with a firm nod. “Because it is the Black Death… There are some second or third-hoof accounts of ponies who managed to get back to civilization after going there, but they died within days, and nothing grows around their graves, to say nothing of the violence that generally preceded those deaths and the hauntings…” “Wow…” Starry murmurs quietly in the ensuing silence in their squad’s area. “And I thought Daring Do went into dangerous places…” Monkey and Leaf share a look before they both crack up, breaking the somber mood like a stone breaks glass. “You get to explain that one to them too, Lover Colt…” Monkey comments, hopping lightly down from her bunk and heading to the window overlooking the academy grounds. Staring out through the rain pelting against the glass, Monkey chews on her lower lip anxiously as she watches various Wonderbolts rush around, obviously trying to figure out what was going on. “Careful, Monkey… Stay like that much longer and you’ll turn into Witchy…” Monkey turns and casts an exasperated glance over her shoulder at Leaf, who had avoided the queries of their squadmates by following her over. He only laughs at her, continuing, “See! Just like that! You’re spending too much time with her for your own good!” “I do live with her, remember? And you could stand to spend more time with her, Leaf,” Monkey retorts, returning to her weather watching. “There wasn’t rain scheduled for today, and it’s got the Wonderbolts worried enough that they cancelled today’s formation training.” Starry comes up beside Monkey, nudging the yellow pegasus to one side and pressing her face to the glass. “It is coming down pretty hard for a Code Three…” “Code Three?” Stormy repeats, joining the mares at the window from Monkey’s other side. “Why aren’t they trying to get rid of it?” he asks, mostly musing aloud. “Oh c’mon! It’d probably just a Code Two that won’t do any harm to let pass…” Leaf protests. “Sure, it’s cancelled cadet training, but -” His words are cut off with a flash of lightning, followed by a siren and the speakers around the training grounds crackling to life. “ATTENTION ALL WONDERBOLTS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. ALL WONDERBOLTS, REPORT TO THE MESS HALL FOR IMMEDIATE DISPATCH FOR A CODE FOUR WEATHER INCIDENT! I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL CADETS, REPORT TO YOUR INSTRUCTORS! ALL WONDERBOLT STAFF ARE TO REPORT TO THE BASEMENT FOR SHELTER!” Silver Lining’s voice rattles everything in the barracks, booming through the speakers and practically shaking the bones of every cadet present. Monkey turns and raises an eyebrow at Leaf, who at least has the decency to smile sheepishly. “Well… It’s not a Code Three like you guys were saying…” he laughs, but his tone has an edge of nervousness. “You heard Second Captain Lining… Let’s move it, Apple,” Stormy says, shrugging slightly and heading for the door. The moment his hoof releases the catch on the door, it flies open, wind bursting into the barracks and sending loose papers flying. Leaf jumps forward and forces the door shut, leaning his whole body against it to keep it closed while Stormy quickly secures the latch again. “Goggles… Goggles would be good,” Leaf comments dryly as he slumps against the door. Stormy laughs nervously in response. As Stormy turns, he nearly misses the pair of goggles flying at his head courtesy of their youngest member, but ducks in time, letting Leaf take them to his face. “Ow! Thanks a lot!” “Any time, Leaf!” Stormy replies, chuckling and catching the next pair that Starry tosses their way. Monkey returns from rummaging around their bunks with four of the cadet uniforms and parses them out to her wingmates. “They might not be much, given this storm, but it’s better than nothing…” “Amen to that!” Starry agrees, quickly pulling her uniform on as the other three do the same. It’s little more than a high-collared jacket, but any protection would be better than none given the situation. Looking back at the rest of the cadets, Apple Squad can’t help but sigh at the state of disarray the others have fallen into with Captain Silver’s announcement and Stormy’s opening of the door. Collectively shaking their heads, they dart out the door, reasonably certain that the rest of the Cadets would try to make their way to the cafeteria by way of the connected buildings instead of sucking it up and running through the rain. Bursting through the mess hall doors, Apple Squad wasn’t the first to arrive, but they have the dubious distinction of being the first of the cadets to make it, nearly careening headlong into Third Captain Fire Streak and Captain Riptide. “It seems as though I just saved myself five bits…” Fire comments with a slight smile at Riptide who smirks in reply. “Alright you lot. Wait by the bulletin board until the rest of your class gets here,” Tide commands, gesturing with a hoof in the general direction she’d indicated. “They’ll probably be coming by way of the gym, ma’am…” Starry calls as she follows her friends into the noisy cafeteria. Even so, they can hear Tide’s sigh of frustration and watch through the rain-pelted window as she stomps outside towards the other side of the training facility. Leaf’s light and half-smothered chuckle catches amongst them and soon their all snickering at their imagined scenarios of Tide dragging the other twelve cadets through the storm to the mess hall. “Daisy, on Dancer! Cherry, with me! Butterfly, follow Sky! Apple and Midnight!” Tide shouts orders over the raging wind to be heard by the four cadet squads behind her. “Divide and conquer!” she adds to her squadmates, and the members of Squad Six shift to take the center positions in the box formations made by the veteran cadets, turning it into a plus formation. Midnight slips into Apple’s formation between Leaf and Monkey behind Stormy and in front of Starry. “I’m glad I’m with experienced Weather pegasi!” she calls out, barely heard over the screaming wind. Stormy vaguely gestures over his shoulder with hoof, a visible sign of acknowledgement. “Shift Arrow! Let’s go!” Starry moves back a length while Midnight and Stormy switch places, and they charge towards the storm, the last group of cadets to do so. The instant they hit the cloud layer, Apple Squad’s focus shifts from defeating the storm to simply trying to keep their elite and Starry with them. Their formation shifts into a W shape, allowing Monkey or Leaf to catch Midnight, and letting Stormy keep an eye out for Starry getting blown away by the raging air currents. “HEAD HALF-RIGHT! WE NEED TO GET TO THE CENTER!!!” Stormy shouts up from the second row. Monkey nods and veers closer to Midnight, waving to catch the elite’s attention, then gestures in the direction Stormy had indicated. The mare nods in reply and angles right, the rest of Apple following her lead. Within moments of changing direction, the winds are nearly unmanageable for Starry and Midnight, particularly so in conjunction with hail the size of golf balls and rain pelting them from all directions. A particularly nasty updraft throws all of them off course, and only by the grace of Leaf grabbing Midnight’s hoof and Stormy doing the same for Starry did the two lithe mares stay with the group. As they close in on the storm’s center, the winds gain strength, and the hailstones grow from golf balls to roughly hoof-sized. Monkey sees when one slams right into Midnight’s head, and she grabs for Midnight’s hoof near-instinctively. Just as Midnight stabilizes though, a gale blasts through the group, ripping her from Monkey’s grip and sending her tumbling past Stormy and Starry. Leaf, in an ill-fated attempt to catch Monkey and Midnight, follows and careens into Monkey’s back as she collides with Stormy, sending all three of them toppling plot-over-teakettle in the wind, Starry whipped along from her death-grip on Leaf’s tail. Between Stormy and Starry using their wings to slow them down, the squad is able to brake enough into a drifting hover and disentangle themselves. “Where’d Ensign Midnight go?!” Stormy asks as he looks around frantically. Monkey shakes her head. “She can take care of herself! We need to get to the eye!” “Which way though?” Leaf questions, finally making Stormy shift the subject of his search. Monkey answers first though. “This way! Follow me!” she responds. She starts to turn, but Starry catches her hoof. “How do you know?!” “Just a feeling. Stormy can lead when he figures it out if I’m wrong,” Monkey explains with a shrug, unable to articulate the instinctual draw. “Get back in Box; Stormy, bring up the rear. Leaf, I want you and Starry to switch sides however much you need to in order to stay downwind of Starry with any cross-winds. Starry, Stormy and Leaf will be keeping you with us while I’m leading.” Both Starry and Leaf look to Stormy for confirmation, and Stormy simply shrugs before he moves into the position Monkey had asked for. Starry and Leaf quickly do the same, with the mare to Monkey’s right and Leaf to her left, and Monkey starts off in the direction she feels a pull in. With the strong gusts of headwind that constantly attempt to send her cartwheeling backwards, she doesn’t have time to wonder at the odd instinctual draw, or that her wings itch more the further they fly upwind. “Center’s dead ahead! Watch out for the -” Leaf’s relay of Stormy’s warning is cut off from Monkey’s ears as she plows head first into a wall of wind that sends her reeling to the right. Adjusting rapidly, she sets her wings into a glide to use the gale-force tailwind while occasionally flapping her wings to angle inward. “Aaaaaah, look out!!!” Starry shouts from behind Monkey, only a second before crashing into Monkey, sending both of them tumbling out of the cyclonic winds and into the calm of the storm’s center. As the two mares take a moment to right themselves, Leaf and Stormy join them. “What the hay is that?!” Stormy exclaims pointing inward, turning the rest of the squad’s attention in that direction. While Leaf and Starry make mixed noises of confusion, Monkey’s eyes narrow and her jaw drops. “Smash it!” she shouts, immediately shooting off towards the pink crystal floating in the eye of the storm. “Monkey! Wait!!!” Stormy shouts as he, Starry and Leaf try to catch up with her. The crystal flares and fires off a bolt of pink lightning that Monkey easily dodges but scatters her squadmates’ pursuit. Undeterred, Monkey charges forward, darting and weaving as the crystal shoots more blasts towards her. Pink bolts streak across the sky as Monkey pumps her wings furiously to reach the cursed gem. Each bolt threatens to strike her as she moves closer and closer, but Monkey presses forward, squinting through her goggles with determination. The world beyond her target narrows until nothing but the crystal and the next attack to evade exist, her friends’ calls lost to the whistling wind in her ears. In slow motion, she sees another build-up from the crystal and knows - without a doubt - she won’t be able to avoid the fuschia lightning. Monkey braces herself for the inevitable impact, gritting her teeth in defiance as she prepares herself to power through and smash the infernal gem. Monkey winds up to punch as time slows down, but the glowing crystal in front of her discharges just as she is about to strike. The force of the strike sends her backwards, the caustic smell of burning feathers assaulting her nose for a moment as she falls through the void, quickly dissipating as she descends into an uncontrolled free fall. Pain threatens to overwhelm her as she twists and tries to right herself, but her wings refuse to move at all and her efforts only serve to make her fall more disorientating. “Crap! Starry, double push!” Stormy yells, moving under Starry with Leaf. As the two stallions start to angle downward to dive after Monkey, Starry angles upward, fixing her eyes on the crystal. One of her back hooves barely nicks one of Stormy’s, the other brushing against one of Leaf’s. In an instant, Starry pushes against their hooves with a hard downstroke of her wings, sending the stallions zooming downward while she speeds towards the gem, smashing it easily before it could hurl another bolt. Simultaneously, Leaf and Stormy zip through the sky/winds watching how Monkey was flailing and attempting to straighten herself out – and failing. Locking their wings alongside their bodies, they streamlined themselves much as possible. Getting closer, they both knew the rescue would have to be timed perfectly since if one or both got knocked out, certain death awaited for them. Stormy growls in determination looking past Monkey to gauge the distance they had left. Rapidly running out of time, he studies Monkey’s flailing hooves willing himself to fall faster. Missing one of Monkey’s arms, he catches one with his arm as his body slams into Monkey’s and does his best to avoid being hit on the head. Leaf watches Stormy, trying to figure out what the other stallion is thinking but, without seeing where Stormy is looking, he had to guess and hope it was the right option. With Stormy being more streamline that him, Leaf finds himself slightly behind when he sees that Stormy had been paying close attention to Monkey’s upper body. Focusing on Monkey’s legs, he catches both of them while forcing his head to the side so he wouldn’t slam into Monkey’s stomach. As one, both stallions spread their wings wide, flapping them hard in an attempt to create more resistance as well as angling themselves for a rough landing. When he feels they were going as slow as they could before the ground met them, Leaf flaps one wing to spin them so he’s beneath his squadmates before bringing his wings in. “HEAD AND WINGS IN!” he shouts and Stormy hastily does the same while Monkey tucks her head in. Not a moment too soon, they smack into the ground hard enough to bounce a few times. The rough landing tosses Stormy away, skittering along the rocky ground. Skidding to a stop with his sister’s roommate atop him, Leaf lays there trying to get his ears to stop ringing while Monkey shudders and twitches. Stormy turns his head to the side with a groan, but otherwise remains still, laying on his stomach. “LEAF! MONKEY! STORMY!” Starry calls out as she lands and rushes over to them. “Please don’t be dead.” “Too bad…” Leaf groans from his back. Whatever humor he’d had vanishes as he cracks his eyes open and sees Monkey, seemingly unconscious but for her face contorted into a pained grimace and almost inaudible whimpers. “Aw shit… Starry? Help me get Monkey up.” “You’re kidding, right?” she retorts skeptically. “There’s a reason you two went after her…” “Here… I’ll- agh!” Stormy cuts off as he flops back to the ground with a wince. Muttering curses under his breath, he sighs and rolls to his left side, his right arm at an awkward angle and the wing behind it has an additional, unnatural and painful, bend, to say nothing of the scrapes running down his torso. Starry whips around to look at him, eyes widening at his obvious injuries. “Stormy, don’t you dare move again!” Starry snaps. “Honestly! Do stallions not know how to take care of themselves when they’re injured?” she asks rhetorically, rolling her eyes. “Starry? I’ve been at my mother’s and sister’s tender mercies enough to know when not to move… but right now, I’m gonna be worse off if you don’t get Monkey off of me,” Leaf remarks dryly, drawing Starry’s attention back to him. As her brow furrows, Leaf puffs an exasperated sigh and raises an eyebrow at her. “Look… My arms and legs aren’t hurt. I can help so you’re not trying to deadlift her. So get your plot over here already.” Lips pressed together with uncertainty, Starry circles Leaf and Monkey, looking for the best place to lift the semi-conscious mare. “Can you lift her first? I could probably drag her off once I can get my shoulder under her…” Nodding, Leaf shifts with a pained grimace and, grunting from the effort, slowly starts to hoist Monkey upward. Ducking under the yellow mare’s shoulder, careful to avoid the extended wing, Starry pulls Monkey the rest of the way off of Leaf. Wincing, Leaf rolls to his hooves and wobbles from the spasming muscles in his back while Starry continues to slowly pull Monkey towards Stormy. “Ugh… So much for a relatively tame two weeks…” he grumbles, gingerly following after the squad’s youngest members. “Where are you going, Starry?” “Saw a cave... over here… before your… spectacular landing,” she replies, grunting between steps. “Last thing… you all need…  is to… stay wet… while injured…” She pauses by Stormy, panting and looking between Leaf and the cadet squad captain. “Think you… can help Stormy?” she asks, breathing hard from her efforts. “Can’t hurt me any worse,” Leaf responds with a shrug, and then winces as his shoulders give a painful twinge at the gesture. It takes no small amount of careful maneuvering, and more than a few expletives - shouted or grumbled - to get Stormy up and hobbling next to Leaf, both wincing as their movements jostle Stormy’s dislocated shoulder and brush against the deep scrapes along Leaf’s back. Despite this slowing them considerably, they catch Starry just as she’s entering the cave she’d spotted, though it’s not much of one - barely fifteen feet deep. Starry stumbles inside, only barely making it to completely dry ground before she collapses to the cave floor, wheezing from her exertions. Leaf and Stormy quickly follow suit, finding their own patches of ground to flop down upon. “Well… Shit…” Starry pants, rolling out from under Monkey’s arms. “Now what do we do?” As rain starts pelting the ground outside, neither of the stallions have an answer.